


The Inside of Love

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: F/M, Family, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-09
Updated: 2015-10-09
Packaged: 2018-04-25 12:54:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4961392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Blow mommy a kiss so that Rafi doesn’t get in a ton of trouble later.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Inside of Love

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place before events in Institutional Fail. It's also titled after one of my favorite songs, which I think fits this couple so well.

“OK, I have no earthly idea why a platypus would be in this book but here he is. Can you say platypus, Noah?”

“Puss.” Noah flattened his chubby hand over the picture.

“You might not want to finish that.” Rafael smiled. “Mom will hear and there might be trouble. Let's see what's on the next page. OK here we go, it’s a giraffe.”

“Puss.” Noah repeated.

“That can't be the word of the week buddy. I know, one syllable, four letters, smooth coming off the tongue. But a lot of potentially bad words are. Most expletives have one syllable, even in Spanish. We’ll find another P animal,” Rafael began to turn the pages of the _Giant Animal Book_. “We’ll find a really good one and then you can run around saying it all day.”

“Puss.”

This time when Noah said it, he giggled afterward. That made Rafael laugh. He was just a toddler, 18 months old, but it was like he knew. He knew it was sort of a bad word and he was totally getting away with it and this was a victory giggle more than anything else. It was best to make the most of it before something else averted his short toddler attention span.

“I think I found the right one.” Rafael pointed to the picture on the page. “Here we have a panther, Noah. Panthers are cats but much bigger than a little kitty cat. They have big paws, climb trees, and run through jungles at about 55 miles an hour. This guy can move faster than my first car. Can you say panther?”

Noah looked at the page and then he looked at Rafael. He looked at the page again.

“Puss.” He giggled and pointed to the panther.

“Technically, you're correct. Puss is another word for cat and panther is a cat. Good job, kiddo.” Rafael kissed his cheek. “What about this animal? Can you say duck?”

“Duck.” Noah repeated.

“That’s great, Noah.” It was hard for the ADA to hide his joy. 

The kid didn’t talk much and there were any number of reasons for it. Olivia didn’t push but made sure to do everything to have Noah in the kind of environment where he was constantly learning. There was music, videos, books, and constant reading. His mother walked a fine line between stimulation and over stimulation.

“The duck makes a quack quack noise. Quack quack.”

Noah laughed as Rafael tickled him. He wanted him to do more quack quacks so he could laugh; Rafael complied. It was difficult not to eat out of a toddler’s hands. He made raspberries on Noah’s neck and there was even more giggling. Olivia walked out of the bedroom, standing behind the love seat. She smiled as she rubbed her eyes.

“Honey, its nine o’clock.” She said.

“Is it?” Rafael turned to look at her. As usual, he was struck by her beauty. Just awake Liv might be his favorite. “We didn’t wake you, did we?”

“It’s a half hour past Noah’s bedtime.”

“I know but we were just staying up a little, doing as men do.”

“OK. Time to wrap it up, men.”

“We've been busted Noah.” Rafael closed the book and put it on the coffee table. Noah was in his lap so he just stood, one arm under Noah’s butt and the other across his chest to keep him from falling. He was getting pretty good at the baby carrying thing; it was something Rafael was proud of. “Time to tell Mommy goodnight.” 

“Night night, sweetheart.” Olivia caressed his face and kissed him. She stroked his hair, kissing him once more. “Mi dulce niño.”

“Puss.” Noah said.

“What did he just say?” she looked at Rafael.

“I’ll explain it…it’s much more innocent than it sounds.”

“O-K.”

“Blow mommy a kiss Noah.” Rafael took Noah’s hand, put it over his mouth and gestured toward Olivia. “Blow mommy a kiss so that Rafi doesn’t get in a ton of trouble later.”

Olivia blew him a kiss too, smiling as she watched them walk into the nursery together. Then she went straight to the kitchen. Her nap lasted about 90 minutes, her headache was almost gone. It had been a bad one tonight, not a migraine but it came close. There was much stress at the precinct. 

They were a man short with Nick gone. Rollins was pregnant and needed to be on desk duty. That was going to be a big fight. Fin had said no to the sergeant exam, which meant that eventually 1 PP was going to put someone there that she surely didn’t want. If Olivia didn’t pass the lieutenant’s exam that would mean that the person would be over her head as well; she would be back to number two. 

Dodds was around too much for her liking lately, and being friendly. He rubbed her the wrong way more often than not. He was politics, not police. Olivia didn’t care for politics though she knew that she'd have to get cozier with it as she moved up the ranks. She and Captain Cragen had a long conversation about it just a few nights ago. 

Olivia was so happy that he and Eileen were relaxed and in love in Florida but did he really have to be so far away. He was the only one who truly understood what she was going through. The long talks did her heart good. A hug would’ve been ten times better.

Sighing, Olivia poured herself a half-glass of Cabernet. She opened the fridge to see what she might be in the mood to eat. Her appetite right now was close to nil but an empty stomach filled with headache meds and wine wasn’t a good thing. The grilled chicken from two days ago was still edible. She could throw it in the wok with some brown rice. 

A little rumble in her belly told her that her stomach was most likely agreeing with her. There was always going to be stress with this job. There would be stress with motherhood and relationships and just about anything the world might throw at her on any given day. Food helped. Food and wine made it more bearable. Food, wine, and sex…a trifecta.

“Are you hungry, mi amor?” Rafael came around the corner and into the kitchen. “You should sit and relax; I’ll make something to eat.”

“I had my eye on the chicken, maybe with some brown rice.” Olivia said.

“I can add some peppers, onions…”

“My stomach,” Liv held up her hand. “That might be pushing it.”

“Unseasoned food is sacrilege, Olivia.”

“There's spices in the cabinet.” She pointed to it.

Rafael nodded. He slid by her and took the chicken and rice from the fridge. The wok was on the top shelf in the cabinet next to the fridge. He would need onion powder, pepper, seasoned salt, just a little chili powder…

“You don’t have chili powder.” He closed the cabinet halfway and looked at her.

“Honey, it’s a quick late night meal not _Top Chef_. C'mon.”

“OK.” The ADA mumbled. 

He wasn’t the world’s best cook but that wasn’t because he didn’t season the food. He'd do the best with what he had. Chili powder might not be good for a sensitive stomach anyway. Still, next time Rafael was at the market he was buying some. With the amount of time he spent there, chili powder needed to be in the house. It was a matter of principle.

“So, you gonna tell me what puss means?” Olivia sat up on the counter. She rarely did that but she wanted to be with him while he cooked. Being tired, standing wasn’t on her list of things to do.

“Platypus.” Rafael sprayed cooking spray in the wok and turned up the fire.

“I'm lost.”

“Noah and I were reading his animal book. I showed him the platypus and asked him to say it. He got the puss part and seemed to know it was something he wasn’t supposed to say.”

“Which means he kept saying it.” Olivia finished his sentence.

“And giggling.”

“Isn't he amazing?” she smiled.

“I think he's a genius. I'm willing to bet that once he starts talking, Noah will never stop. What?”

“What, what?”

“That look on your face.” Rafael replied.

“I love you, Counselor.”

“Love you more.” He smiled.

Olivia sipped her wine while Rafael cooked. She didn’t have to do a thing. There were times when she wanted to, and did, and it was fine. But he cooked for her. He ran her bath and changed her son’s diapers. He would rub her back and even sang her to sleep a few times. 

The man was wonderful. He wasn’t perfect, but didn’t need to be. Sometimes Olivia had to tie him down to keep him from wanting to save her and the world. Sometimes she to remind him that despite some of his ways he wasn’t an asshole or a bad person. Sometimes she had to tell him to get over himself and not smile about it. But those times were less frequent than these, which meant they were good. 

Olivia felt so good even on nights when all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and cry. On those nights he was often right beside her. Right now the last thing they could do was make their relationship public. Both of their jobs depended on discretion. 

She knew she didn’t want to keep it a secret forever because it wasn’t her nature. But having it all—mostly—to herself for the moment was nice. She'd been in keep it quiet relationships before and Olivia always felt they weren't right. Maybe it was just the person that hadn’t been right.

“You're thinking too much.” Rafael said. He was taking the chicken and rice out of the wok and putting it on plates.

“Aren’t I always?” she gave him a raised eyebrow.

“You're thinking about something heavy for this time of evening.” He clarified.

“Nope.” She shook her head. “I'm good.”

“Are you sure?”

“Better if you come over here and kiss me.”

Rafael slid across the kitchen floor in his multi-colored socks, making them both laugh. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her. Olivia hummed, wrapping her legs around him. They didn’t need breath, they needed this. 

His kisses lit her on fire; from the very first one. It was pure and simple chemistry. With just the right amount something very good was going to happen. With a touch extra, combustion. Rafael grabbing her ass and lifting her into his arms was a touch extra.

“Rafi,” Olivia laughed some between kisses. “Rafi, dinner is going to get cold.”

“I know.” He kissed her again. “You feel so good.”

“So do you.” She ran her fingers through his hair.

“Mmm, mi amor, don’t do that. Don’t do that unless you want to have sex right here, right now, and dinner be damned.”

“Sorry.” Olivia laughed as he put her feet on the ground.

They got their plates, Rafael took a beer from the fridge, and moved the party into the living room. He never thought he would love domesticity so much. Having done it just once before, Rafael didn’t think it was for him. Had he softened in his old age? Had he just found the absolute right person who made it worth it? 

It wasn’t like he'd been on the dating or casual sex circuit before Olivia. But there were nights when he was a single man that he would still be working at this hour. There were nights now when he just left work. Plea agreements and closing statements could wait…Olivia and Noah couldn’t. 

It wasn’t always easy to juggle love, life, and work. Sometimes Rafael thought he should do better. On nights like this focusing on the moment was most important. This moment was awesome. This food, this beer, and unquestionably this woman, were awesome.

***


End file.
